These are the top 5 reasons for disabling my Neocities profile:
I. I believe that website traffic has a psychology, which implies that some people are more inclined to visit sites with more hits or subscribers and less inclined to visit those without. Keeping in mind that my site isn't exactly viral or invisible, just part of a fragile middle. As a result, visitors shouldn't be influenced to visit my site or avoid it completely based on the numbers shown on my profile.
II. I believe that the numbers aren’t inherently good or bad. They are a thing unto themselves, until we begin assigning value to them; internalizing external measurements of success. We sometimes start measuring how well we're doing in comparison to others or how poorly they are doing in comparison to us. Your visibility is always being interpreted. Ironically, if the hits aren't viewable, we eliminate some of the monotony.
III. In the event of severe illness or untimely death, having my entire existence reduced to a time and date stamp of my last Neocities feed post is disturbing. These fragments can certainly linger long after we’ve gone and even define us or speak for us, in our absence. It's even worse; if they’re indexed by search engines like google and our intimate thoughts are left dangling in cyberspace without any good context or defense.
IV. I'm not convinced that my interactions- who's been commenting on my page and who's page my comments are showing up on really needs to be made public. Not that we're necessarily talking about anything sensitive; just the fact the comments are on display for anyone and everyone who randomly stumbles on it to read- diverting it from the intended audience, so the goal is to exercise some kind of control over that digital presence.
V. I prefer that the attention be focused on the website rather than on the profile, so that visitors can have a more authentic experience. The social layer can dilute the reasons people come here, including genuine engagement. By removing an activity feed and other social cues, the ideas and work on the site are left to fend for themselves without a framing shaped by the webmaster's habits. This puts the ball back into the court of exploration.